Sign in

Jakob Gowell

@gowellja.bsky.social
106 followers 210 following 248 posts

Ph.D. student studying motivation (Self-Determination Theory) at OU. Former Peace Corps volunteer. Plays mandolin.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Jakob Gowell
Feena van @feenavan2099.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
"Before Stonehenge was raised, before Egypts first pyramid broke ground,before the Nazca people drew their famous lines across the Peruvian desert,someone in what is now southern Arizona shaped a 272-foot fish into the earth On April 23,2026,"a border-wall contractor drove heavy equipment across it"
gadgetreview.com
Trump's Border Wall Construction Destroys 6,500-Year-Old Arizona Geoglyph – Older Than Stonehenge
Arizona's 6,500-year-old Las Playas Intaglio, the oldest dated geoglyph in the Americas, was irreparably damaged by border wall construction in April 2026.
8820391252
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
While reading about pawpaws to try growing some from seed I found this gem: "Another pest is... the zebra swallowtail butterfly, whose larvae feed... on... pawpaw foliage, but never in great numbers. The adult butterfly is of such great beauty that this should be... more a blessing than a curse."
000
Reposted by Jakob Gowell
Ursula K. Le Guin Bot @leguinbot.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
You cannot buy the revolution. You cannot make the revolution. You can only be the revolution. It is in your spirit, or it is nowhere.
026095
Reposted by Jakob Gowell
Cate Denial @cjdenial.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
If your employer uses Lyra Health for its EAP, please read the fine print. Recordings of sessions are the default, and while coaches and therapists will ask you if you want to continue recording, they will not tell you that a transcript of your session will be used to train AI.
35029
Reposted by Jakob Gowell
ghost malone ergo propter bones @proptermalone.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I think MAHA is very straightforwardly the triumph of the snake oil salesmen and the way we beat it is the same way you always beat snake oil salesmen: regulate their claims
14066881071
Reposted by Jakob Gowell
Tracy O’Connell Novick @tracynovick.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Relatedly, I am appalled by how much this is the case in K-12. It is really indefensible.
13510
Reposted by Jakob Gowell
Ben Williamson @benpatrickwill.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
This example of LLMs used for "editing" is so powerful as it explicitly shows that genAI does not only deaden language and erase authorial voice, but actively revises an author's intended meaning too. bsky.app/profile/disa...
38438
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
I also like “extractive pricing”
010
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Part of activity planning for/with kids, ideally, is demonstrating that you know and include consideration of their interests. Using AI may (but doesn’t necessarily) demonstrate the opposite.
010
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
I’m working move in this afternoon. Also, there’s a master’s student from the meteorology school I work with in the integrity office (he’s in our student group). he might be a useful contact if you’d like me to pass along his info.
110
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
I don’t believe the CIA destroyed quite all the records—some had to survive (if heavily redacted) to establish Sid Gottlieb as the fall guy.
000
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Context: Ed Psych Doc student focused on motivation + OU staff In the integrity office.
030
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
It’s a set of motivational challenges cutting across scales (assignment, course, degree program) and domains (educational, work, political). The most important interventions aren’t focused at the level of boundaries and institutional responses, but I think those responses are still important.
131
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Seems like it would be an issue with telling “the full truth”…
010
Reposted by Jakob Gowell
Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
This story is so absurd that I think it didn’t get enough attention. Chicago police is violating the law to the tune of hundreds of thousands of secret traffic stops that it’s not reporting as the law requires. When Pascal discovered this, they said they’d fix it… but secrecy has only increased!
10709298
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Not our rental car, but an example from the dealership the next morning. Our windshield was cracked in a few places, but not this bad.
A Renault car with at least nine large impacts from damaging hailstones on its windshield, to the point a driver wouldn’t be able to see out.
110
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
I‘ve lived in Norman for four years and it took going to France (Aubenas) a few weeks ago to experience dangerous hail for the first time. It was nearly baseball sized.
110
Reposted by Jakob Gowell
Tom Pepinsky @tompepinsky.com · 16/07/2026
"This uncertainty about the human provenance of text is an incalculable loss"
This uncertainty about the human provenance of text is an incalculable loss. In both classical and Christian philosophy, the human being was distinguished by his unique relationship to the word. Machines that have command of language are therefore nothing like the mere next step after the microwave and the calculator. The idea that for the rest of my life I will never know for sure if a text was written by the human who claims it or by a machine saddens me greatly, and I suspect this reality will cast a pall over all our lives once it sets in more generally. As things stand, we will face, every day, a task presented to us that no previous human ever could have contemplated: the task of sussing out whether the text we are looking at had a human behind it. This is a huge “transaction cost” that our new technology has imposed on us all, an unwelcome introduction of doubt and wariness and suspicion into the fundamentals of our life together that will only reduce trust and increase atomization.
6242112
Reposted by Jakob Gowell
fluffy fairy 🧚‍♀️ @beigewunder.blacksky.app · 19/07/2026
🐦
35633
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Bridges are one thing, but *water plants*!?
000
Reposted by Jakob Gowell
Kate Violette @kateviolette.com · 15/07/2026
Signal boosting this at an hour I am not usually awake! I used almost every good brain hour I had for two months to put together this ask for help. I need to be able to focus on my medical care and recovery again for a while. Can you chip in, or you can simply repost and help get the word out? 💜
2813
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Is this reality parodying itself with language taken from @doctorow.pluralistic.net’s The Lost Cause?
000
Reposted by Jakob Gowell
Old School Punk Librarian @kennethf62.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Just a reminder. I'm always surprised how many people aren't aware of this. #Libraries
288195215036
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
One might say the space is even designed for loitering. You know, quiet time spent in contemplation. Dare I say, reflection.
000
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Thirstrated?
050
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
There‘s a really nice section dedicated to grad students in LL2 as well.
010
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
(I’m in Carnegie, which is next to Evan’s.)
en.wikipedia.org
Cherokee Gothic - Wikipedia
110
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Have you done a tour yet, and if so, did they mention that OU’s architectural style has its own name—Cherokee Gothic?
210
Reposted by Jakob Gowell
Dr. Liz Norell @liznorell.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Faculty: Help us build a wish list for accommodation requests! We invite instructors to share perceptions of disability support services for students in #HigherEd. Take a short survey (IRB approved) here. Questions? Get in touch! Corrected link: uofmississippi.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
uofmississippi.qualtrics.com
Qualtrics Survey | Qualtrics Experience Management
The most powerful, simple and trusted way to gather experience data. Start your journey to experience management and try a free account today.
1814
Reposted by Jakob Gowell
T. Ryan Gregory 🇨🇦 @tryangregory.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
theguardian.com
Israeli attack kills famed turtle sanctuary ecologist in Lebanon
Mona Khalil led decades-long effort to protect nesting site for turtles near her home in south of the country
26431
Reposted by Jakob Gowell
Larry Ferlazzo @larryferlazzo.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
To No Ones Surprise, Researchers Find That That The Key Principles Of Self-Determination Theory Find That It Applies To Language-Learners’ Motivation, Too larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2026/06/20/t...
larryferlazzo.edublogs.org
To No Ones Surprise, Researchers Find That That The Key Principles Of Self-Determination Theory Find That It Applies To Language-Learners’ Motivation, Too
I’ve written constantly about how the tenets of Self-Determination Theory (autonomy, relatedness, competence, relevance) are key to creating the conditions where student intrinsic moti…
021
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
With side eye.
000
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
To parse my logic a bit more: Exceptionally unlikely to predict -> Person antithetical to message -> Reagan
110
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
I actually did guess correctly—sort of. I guessed, "Ronald Reagan." (Seemed exceptionally unlikely given the content.) And there was a photo of him!
100
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
If I remember right, your kid is coming to OU for meteorology? I retained that because I know some students in the meteorology program (especially one moved from undergrad in it and then advanced to a Masters). He's also involved in the student org where I took a staff position (academic integrity).
110
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
The Lore is nice and small and friendly. Right next to Yellow Dog Coffee, too.
110
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Shades of Grey and Red Side Story by Jasper Fforde, New York, 2140 by Kim Stanley, The Terraformers by Analee Newitz (I like it more than Automatic Noodle), The Dispossessed by Le Guin.
141
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
(Courtesy reminder that I believe Okorafor prefers African-Futurist.)
120
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
So he wasn’t talking about messianic Jews as that one exception, then?
000
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Seems like you could do a lot with a low level infrared lasers tracking interruptions in signal across a span—nothing in that which strikes me as likely to be able to identify an individual.
000
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
If you're not familiar, The Dispossessed (and the "all social change is individual") might pair really nicely with Cory Doctorow's The Lost Cause, with the added benefit of digs at techno-fascists.
020
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
cc @kateviolette.com I know it's not CA/SF trains, but I thought you might still appreciate the Pride/Transit mash-up.
010
Reposted by Jakob Gowell
Matthew Cortland (they) @matthewcort.land · 02/06/2026
RAS is druggable, my gods. ras is fucking druggable **in human people** it fucking worked. science.
3592
Reposted by Jakob Gowell
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
well, here's a nice metaphor as we work on dreaming the next chapter after this one:
Tumblr post from weasselle arguing that Community should be run like a household not a business- focusing on keeping people safe and healthy rather than turning a profit
5712265
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
For folks who *don't* like immigration, maybe consider helping make the places people are wanting to leave nicer places to live? Seems like basic demand side economics.
010
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
There was no indication mine had power (nothing registered on the control panel), so at very least I knew my issue was primarily an electrical problem. I appreciated that there was a printed out circuit diagram hidden in the inside of the door panel.
010
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
When I repaired my dishwasher last summer, I ended up with a spare door latch. The problem? There was a bad connection right where the power went into the dishwasher, upstream of the whole circuitboard. A wire nut had been melted clear through.
110
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Same.
010
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
I can see that argument—but I don't think it resolves a related question of whether these conditions or emergent outcomes are contingent or necessary. Is there a hypothetical version of GenAI that could arise out of a different, more worthy pattern?
000
Jakob Gowell @gowellja.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Begs the question of when we'll find our Joseph Welch.
000